Patrick: Tech tax should be repealed

BOSTON – The state’s controversial “tech tax” needs to be “repealed and replaced,” Gov. Deval L. Patrick told the Boston Herald last week, a shift from his previous stance.

“The solution is not just to repeal, but to repeal and replace and that’s the part we’re all working on together,” said Patrick, who this month had a closed-door meeting with business leaders urging action to kill the new 6.25 percent tax on software services. “The consensus in the room probably was that replacing it with something was the better way to go. And I think the hard part now is to figure out what to replace it with.”

According to the Herald, Patrick’s statement comes amid a growing outcry from the tech industry, Republicans and even some Democrats to reverse the law passed in July as part of the $500 million transportation financing bill. Patrick did not specify how he prefers to “replace” the $161 million the state is counting on the tax generating. •

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